St. Alphonsus Church can again serve as a beacon

First, let me thank you for your comments on our minor achievement in delaying the demolition of the building formerly known as St. Alphonsus Church (St. Alphonsus gets reprieve, March 12).

Members of the Stone Church Restoration Society and the community as a whole greatly appreciate the Diocese of Antigonish's decision to consider our plan to save the building.

Diocese spokesman Rev. Donald MacGillivray was correct when he said there is an ongoing cost to maintain and support such a structure. We, as a society, cannot achieve this massive goal by ourselves.

We've lost Moxham Castle, the Royal Cape Breton Yacht Club building and the Point Aconi lighthouse to fires and/or the wrecking ball, and we don't want to see St. Alphonsus Church go the same way.

We have lost too many historical properties to the wrecking ball or fire. It has to stop. That being said, we are not so naive as to believe that the church can be saved without significant financial support from the local community.

We will consult with the diocese soon to determine what, if anything, is feasible.

We hope the diocese will agree to a "breathing period" to allow us time to spread the word, acquire funding and support from the local and global communities, and then determine if we can realistically support our plan.

With the grace of God and the goodwill of the people of Cape Breton, we will see this building again serve as a beacon of hope and faith.

We would like to see this beacon remain lit for another 100 years — to light the way for others to come.

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Saved by Grace

March 14, 2014 - 10:02

Such a beautiful building! Would be a crazy loss if it got demolish?? Praying it stay standing...everything we do in life requires $$money, we all understand and we will be giving, every $ matters, Cape Breton is not a poor Island but a RICH one we believe in helping and we love to give, watch and see the $$ come in because we can do this together and all of Canada will give from Sea to Sea! Watch & sea...